a. Technical Field
The instant disclosure relates to catheters. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to catheter shafts which in use are guided within a human or animal so that a distal tip can be located at a remote internal location where medical equipment can be positioned or treatment fluids delivered.
b. Background Art
It is well known that catheters can be used to perform a growing number of procedures. Catheters can be used for performance of diagnostic, therapeutic, and ablative procedures, for example. Catheters include a shaft (tubular body) mounted on a handle which can guide the shaft within the vasculature system of a patient to reach a remote target site of the human anatomy where the procedure will be performed. The shaft of the catheter includes a central lumen through which one or more devices or treatment fluids can be guided to the remote target site. Such shafts need to have various physical and chemical characteristics. For instance, they need to be sufficiently flexible and durable to be reliably guided within the human anatomy or vascular system; they need to have an internal surface lubricity that facilitates the passage of other medical devices along their central lumen; they need to have a surface lubricity that allows for maneuvering the catheter within the vasculature of the patient; they should be externally hydrophobic, especially at their distal ends, to resist absorption of fluids and thus prevent shaft performance changes during medical procedures; and they should be chemically compatible with medical adhesives used to attach sensors and other monitoring devices to their outer surfaces.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.